iHM Surges in New Media Monitors Podcast Listener Survey

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, July 22, 2021

Media Monitors

In a normally tight race, iHeartMedia leaps ahead in a new Media Monitors Podcast Listener survey, fielded between June 14-30. Participants ages 18+ were screened on whether they had listened to a podcast in the last 7 days, then asked to list the podcast titles. They were also encouraged to consult their podcast app of choice during the survey. These unassisted responses were then individually matched back to unique RSS feeds which were polled to collect information about genre and publisher.

Top Publishers from Top 200 Podcasts

The iHeartPodcast Network had a strong Q2, surging to the highest total number of podcasts for a publisher since we began measurement in 2020. Likely due to their multi-pronged approach of releasing new podcasts like "Drama Queens" (#11) and "The Office Deep Dive with Brian Baumgartner" (#170), new seasons for old-staples like "The Ron Burgundy Podcast" (#46) and podcast versions of their radio programs including "The Bobby Bones Show" (#66) and "The Breakfast Club" (#32).

NPR remained consistent this quarter with 12 podcasts in the Top 200 including "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" (#53) and "Throughline" (#81). Spotify owned Parcast Network also had a strong quarter primarily due to their slate of True Crime podcasts including: "Medical Murders" (#138), "Unsolved Murders: True Crime Stories" (#58) and "International Infamy with Ashley Flowers" (#194).